Translated material
Wedding Generalissimo
Ramzan Kadyrov covered his cleavage
A peaceful settlement in Chechnya can apparently be considered a truly settled matter , since its president Ramzan Kadyrov began to devote so much attention to issues of the appearance of his fellow citizens - mainly women. Recently, he ordered to stop the sale and rental of European-style wedding dresses in the republic, since, for the president’s taste, they are too open and do not correspond to national traditions.Mr. Kadyrov demonstrated amazing sensitivity in the matter of the wedding ceremony. “Brides are a symbol of modesty, and recently it has become fashionable for brides to wear dresses that are too revealing. If this continues, we will soon forget all our national traditions and lose our identity. I don’t understand how you can enter your husband’s house as a daughter-in-law with a huge neckline and a spacious collar, and without a headscarf?” Instead of low-cut European dresses, Mr. Kadyrov would like to see “white national wedding dresses: they are more beautiful and more formal” in the windows of marriage salons in Grozny and Gudermes (fortunately, they have already appeared).
Chechen dresses and headdresses are indeed some of the most beautiful in the Caucasus, but hardly all newlyweds in the republic are to the taste of folklore style. However, Ramzan Kadyrov promised to stop at nothing in the fight for the revival of national traditions. Apparently, in order for Chechen brides not to get bored among their native beauty and severity, he is going to invite clothing designers to the republic who will develop “Chechen fashion” in accordance with the national mentality.
Let us recall that this is not the first time that President Kadyrov has addressed the topic of morality, national traditions and the appearance of Chechen women. Last year, as prime minister of the republic, he called on women employed in public service to wear headscarves. A little later, he awarded several Chechen students for wearing headscarves. And in September of this year, the initiative to make it mandatory for female officials to wear a headscarf was further developed in a special presidential decree. “I am proud that I am a Muslim and a Chechen, and as president, I demand that officials, while at their workplace, observe moral and ethical standards in clothing, manners, and behavior,” the head of the republic explained then, elegantly paraphrasing Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, taking into account local specifics. “Let them prove to me that I’m wrong, that this is illegal, but during working hours everyone must obey the established rules.” During non-working hours, this is a private matter.”
However, the president also does not ignore the leisure time of his fellow citizens. In particular, he banned gambling, drinking alcohol, and once even strongly recommended that young women refrain from using mobile phones - however, evil tongues claim that the latter happened in connection with the appearance among the available “mobile content” of a not particularly chaste video featuring a person , similar to Mr. Kadyrov. The press service of the Chechen administration, naturally, categorically denied his involvement in the recording, and called the recording itself provocative.
In the fight against mobile phones, Ramzan Kadyrov can be said to be a pioneer. His predecessors, who in the 1990s tried to lead the then virtually independent Chechnya, taking into account the requirements of Sharia, that is, Islamic law based on sacred texts, and adat (the law of local customs), did not deal with such a massive spread of mobile communications, much less with the transmission of video and photo images via a regular telephone. But the ban on gambling and drinking alcohol already took place during the same period. But despite the outward harmlessness and even the visible positive connotation of these innovations, the Ichkerian practice of the 90s showed that they are not so far from public canings and executions by the verdict of the Sharia court, the documentary footage of which shocked the Russian and world community.
After the end of the first military campaign, Chechen field commanders were divided into supporters of turning Chechnya into an Islamic caliphate and opponents of it. Both parties were literally at loggerheads with each other, but this did not stop opponents of Islamic fundamentalists in eastern Chechnya, where the Kadyrov family comes from, from beating people for drinking alcohol and carrying out other Sharia executions. Schools everywhere also suffered from such a “return to roots,” where advocates of Islam tried to ban “pagan” New Year trees, but forced the introduction of religion and Arabic language courses. The wearing of traditional Islamic clothing by women, of course, was welcomed even then, although Aslan Maskhadov, it seems, did not sign any special orders for the civil service, and Chechen women spoke, not without pride, about their secular and European habits in terms of appearance.
In this regard, Chechnya is much more progressive than neighboring Dagestan, in the capital of which young women in hijabs are increasingly seen. Local residents, by the way, bluntly explain that a girl in Muslim clothing has less risk of making an unwanted acquaintance for them. And Ramzan Kadyrov believes that the European habits of his compatriots threaten the Chechen national identity.
But he is very pleased with the employees of the Chechen branch of the Pension Fund, who have already switched to a uniform uniform. And I am grateful to the leadership of the Grozny State University and the Oil Institute, which are also going to uniformize male and female students. Apparently, from the point of view of the President of Chechnya, identical uniforms fit well into the national tradition.
Ramzan Kadyrov, who, by the way, encourages the teaching of Islam and Arabic in secondary schools, has already been reproached for trying to return Chechnya to Sharia norms. His critics note that Chechnya, by all indicators, is the most distinctive region of Russia. But its president categorically denies the accusations, recalling that Chechnya has a completely secular constitution and laws, and the customs that he calls for observance do not formally contradict it. It should be noted, however, that Sharia shootings and the fight against school Christmas trees also took place in the presence of a completely secular constitution of 1992, the only sin of which was the non-recognition of the sovereignty of Russia. Today's Chechnya, on the contrary, so actively recognizes itself as part of the federation that there is a fear that its president might become concerned about the appearance of brides in neighboring regions or, what’s good, in Moscow itself, which, by the way, has already faced such an appearance of Chechen identity, like shootings during weddings.
In this matter, Mr. Kadyrov also demands moderation from his fellow tribesmen. “I won’t be able to completely ban this, because a Chechen without a weapon is not a Chechen. But I won’t allow the holiday to be turned into a shooting range.” The restriction, it must be understood, will be made by class of small arms, their caliber and the amount of ammunition used. Let's say, firing several times from a Stechkin pistol is a national tradition. And a long burst from a heavy machine gun is already obscene. Although, taking into account the number of guests at traditional Caucasian weddings, even a modest pistol salute will sound like an echo of a local war.